Indicator or timer.



R. O. EMERY.

INDICATOR OR TIMER.

APPLICATION FILED 0GT.18, 1912.

1,131,498. Patented M21119, 1915.

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of ayessel, directly or RALPH EMEBY, 0F NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

INDICATOR 0R TIMER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

Application filed Octeber 18, 1912. Serial N0. 726,407.

To all whom it may concern a Be it known that I, RALPH C. EMERY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Indicators or Timers, of which the following is a specification. n

This invention relates to an improved indicator or timer for use in radio-telegraphy and in other connections to which it is suited.

As applied to radio-telegraphy the purpose of the invention is to provide means to increase the effective speed of sending in cases where the receiving operator is subjec'ted to recurring disturbances, such as the blowing of a Whistle in a fog.

It is also a purpose of the invention to provide means to communicate to the bridge by relay, the time blowing its whistle, to estimate the diswhen a distant vessel is thus enabling the pilot tance of that vessel, or to change the time of his own whistle so that he can hear the other.

The operators room on a ship not infrevquently is arranged on the boat deck or otherwise so close to the steamers whistle that the operator cannot hear an incoming message with certainty while the whistle is blowing. The request to the sender to re-' peat, and the ensuing repetition, which also may be interrupted, cause serious delay, particularly if the steamer be blowing twice or three times each minute as some fast steamers do. The purpose of the presentinvention, when applied to that situation, is to provide an indicator in the distant ship that will enable its operator to send only at times when the whistle on the receiving ship is not blowing.

One formof apparatus by which the objects of the invention are accomplished is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, partially in vertical medial section; and Fig. 3 is a front elevation of another embodiment of the invention with a diagrammatic indicationof other apparatus and connections.

In the drawings 10 represents a case containing ordinary clock work adapted to drive a hand 11 which makes one complete circuit of the dial 12 in each minute, the

dial being divided into seconds. In connectlon with this dial is a movable screen 13 formed in two opposite lobes and adapted to cover or delimit portions'of the dial. One

or more auxiliary screens 14 are rotatable on the same axis, and can be set to augment the area covered by the screens 13. In the construction illustrated the screens 13 are supported on an annular casing 13' which is rotatable around the casing of the dial, so that the screens can be. moved to any desired angular position on the dial. They are cut in the form of sectors; and the auxiliary screen portions .14 are cut likewise in the form of sectors, and are supported from a hollow pivot 15 13. A handle 16 is provided for conven iently setting the 'positionof the screen 14 with respect to its supporting part 13; and the latter is conveniently rotatable on its annular bearing 13 around the clock casing. Being approximately balanced, each part retains any position in which it is placed, with the aid of such little friction as naturally occurs. When it is to be used in connection with a steamers whistle, the sector of the screen 13 is preferably made the equivalent of four seconds of time, four seconds being the minimum allowed by law for a blast of Whistle in a fog, although six or eight seconds is not unusual practice; and

the auxiliary screen 14 is of similar size so at the center of the portion The use of the apparatus in connection I with radio-telegraphy is as follows, it being assumed that. both operators are equipped with an indicator of the sort described: The receiving operator acquaints the sending operator with the precisetime when his whis tle begins and ceases its blast, as for example, by beginning and ending a dash of radio-telegraphy simultaneously with the beginning and ending of his whistle blast. The operator on the sending ship, receiving this dash, sets his indicator so that the screen 13, or the combination of his screen 13 and 14, marks the beginning and ending of the blast on the ship to which he is sending; The receiving operator also informs him whether the blasts are one, two, or three per minute. The sending operator then resumes the sending of his message, but interrupts it each time the hand on his indicator is about to enter the area delimited by screens 13 and 1 and continues it again as soon as I emerges therefrom. He thus eliminates the receiving operators requests for repetition, and saves time which, as telegraphy is now practised, is wasted in the request and the repetition. This time may be quite 'cons1d-' erable, inasmuch as the whistleoi' a steamer traveling at high speed and blowing two or three times per minute occupies a considerable portion of the total time in a minute.

the period be one per minute, the operstar will set one or" the lobes of the screen, 13, i i, to correspond with that and will ignore the other lobe, lit the period be three per minute another apparatus may be used having three lobes; or it is feasible as illustrated in Fig. 3 to have three separate lobes 13 mounted on the same central pivot, one,

- two three of which may be used at will,

all being movable so that they can be condensed into one or can be extended into more The operator on the receiving having his own indicator to correown whistle and with the in- .e has caused, to be set on the i he is working, canobserve stle subsequently varies fro a smitted to the sending ein iselr, -nis enables the transmission messages to go on in opposite directions, the operator on the ship with the whistle sending while his own whistle is sounding,

operator on the original sending ship cooperating hy stopping his sending, either abruptly or with the last complete word that can be finished before his indicator hand goes under thescreen, and being ready to receive during the ensuing interval.

it sometimes happens that two ships approaching each. other in a fog are blowing their whistles at the same rate and at such times that the sound of one reaches the other could warn those on the bridge of hat fact, enabling t n to change their own time g, and so hear the approaching nip. l reover the indicator may be exthe hand menace the other ship; or mechanically at the operators instrument or elsewhere. Apparatus for doing this is illustrated as consisting of a prolongation of the spindle 17, on which the light or other signal operated on the bridge,

simultaneously with the blowing of the whistle on the distant'ship. This permits those on the bridge to know with precision the time of blowing on thatship, particularly if the blowing be controlled automatically, and therefore precise in its intervals, a fact of which they may take advantage in several ways. One is thatabove described when a whistle blown within hearing distance is nevertheless not audible to them because of its coinciding with their own whistle blast or its echo. This relay arrangement is indeed a more practical arrangement than a reliance l on the telegraph operator to discover su- J. a coincidence. ;Another advantage gained is that when the whistle of the distant steamer is audible through the fog, but is of unknown distance, and the otlicer on the bridge learns by the indicator the time when said whistle is actually blown, he can compute the distance of the other ship from him in the fog by observin the interval between thattime and the time of his actual hearingof the whistle, and by making due allowance for wind, etc. A further variation which may be beneficial in some circumstances is to'make the screens translucent instead of opaque, so that the progress of the hand can bewatched even while behind the screen. lhis is especially useful where the screened period is used for sending in the other direction, as it enables the sender to see when his time is about to elapse, so not to start a word that will not be finished within it.

ln the modification illustrated in Fig. 3 the lobes are all supported from the central pivot and no annular casing is required, being held by friction inwhatever position they are placed. lhis also illustrates diagrammatically the connections last described and shows also how the s e device may automatically loci: operators key 22 so th cannot send, while the distant receiving operator is unable to hear, it the sending operator happens to neglect the visual indication of the screen. is accommil inis plished by providing a solenoid 23 in the circuit, having a fiber plunger 24 which projects under the key 22. When a current flows the magnetic portion 25 of the plunger is attracted into the coil, causing the non-magnetic portion to project farther and in so doing to pass under the key 22, thus locking it. When not thus locked, the sending operators depression of the key 22 causes a signal to pass from the antennae 26 which, striking the antennae 27, may be heard by the receiving operator in the telephones 28, as indicated in diagram in Fig. 3.

By means of a simple spring catch 26 all three lobes in Fig. 3 may be locked together in positions 120 apart; or one 180 apart from the other two; or all together; there being a pin on the spring 26 and holes in the disks underneath at proper places.

It is the object of the appended claims to cover such features of novelty as exist in the invention disclosed herein; and it is to be understood that many variations may be made from the specific structure illustrated without departing from the scope of the invention as covered by the claims.

It is also particularly pointed out that the terms second hand and dial used in the claims are used in a broad sense. The hand may in fact advance by stages of any length, as, for example, by half seconds or quarter seconds, or its progress may be continuous instead of intermittent. So also the dial referred to need not be marked as illustrated, although divisions of some sort thereon will be found convenient.

I claim:

1. Apparatus adapted for use with a systern of radio-telegraphy, comprising mechanism and an element driven thereby at a regular rate through a circuit repeatedly; a screen extending over a definite part of the circuit; and means whereby the screen is rapidly adjustable to any position around the circuit, thereby indicating the time of recurrent disturbances.

Apparatus adapted for use with a system of radio-telegraphy, comprising mechanism and an element driven thereby at a regular rate through a circuit repeatedly; a screen, extending over a definite part of the circuit, rapidly adjustable and extensible around the circuit, thereby indicating the time of recurrent disturbances.

3. In a system of radio-telegraphy, means to avoid recurrent disturbances of operation comprising the combination, at a sand ing station, of mechanism and an element driven thereby at a regular rate through a circuit repeatedly; means adapted to represent a period of disturbance, extending over a definite part of the circuit, and means for rapid adjustment of the position thereof along said circuit, whereby a period of disturbance at the receiving station may be indicated recurrently at the sending station.

4. In a system of radiotelegraphy, means to avoid recurrent disturbances of operation, comprising the combination with sending means of a mechanism and an element driven thereby at a regular rate through a circuit repeatedly; a device rapidly adjustable in position, arranged along said circuit and adapted to turbance at the receiving station; and a lock for the sending means actuated by conjunction of said driven element with said device.

5. In a system of radio-telegraphy means to avoid recurrent disturbances of operation, comprising the combination, at a station having sending means, of a mechanism and an element driven thereby at a regular rate through a circuit repeatedly; a device rapidly adjustable in position, arranged along said circuit and adapted to represent a period of disturbance at the receiving station; an electric circuit, and a signal operated thereby, upon conjunction of said device and said driven element.

Signed by me at Boston, Mass, this ninth day of September, 1912.

RALPH O. EMERY.

represent a period of dis 

